No Going Back
by The Lone Writer - 2016
Summary: The Capital Wasteland - a lonely, damaged ruin, teeming with danger. After Ashley is exiled from Vault 101 she embarks on a quest to find her Dad, and struggles to find a safe place for herself in a cruel, ravaged world. What she didn't expect to find was love amongst the devastation. Avenging her Dad, Ashley joins forces with the Brotherhood of Steel to take down the Encalve.


**I'm a huge fan of Fallout 3, and I've always been a writer. I've written a lot of fanfiction before, but Fallout 3 will be my first on-line publication.**

 **This is just the extended summary for my story. If there is enough interest I will upload the full story, which is currently in progress (20 pages completed). Thanks for reading!**

 **Fallout 3 - No Going Back**

Ashley escapes from the Vault on a quest to find her father. Upon finding Megaton she befriends Lucy West, and begins to make a life for herself in the town. When she meets Andy Stahl she is instantly attracted to him, though he treats her with disdain. Andy becomes even more standoffish when his brother Leo and Ashley strike up a friendship, bonding over their emotional troubles. Only after Ashley helps Leo overcome his addiction to Jet does Andy begin to soften towards her. Andy and Ashley develop a friendship that evolves into something deeper, though they both reluctantly hold back physically knowing that Ashley needs to leave Megaton to find her father. Ashley becomes even more torn when she hears Three Dog on the radio, and is immediately taken by his charisma and his commitment to the Good Fight. Leaving her new life and friends in Megaton, Ashley determinedly sets out into the Wasteland to find her Dad and GNR.

When she meets Three Dog they have an instant rapport; Ashley becomes even more enamored of him after learning about his passion for GNR and being a voice for the people. Ashley becomes involved in the cause, and agrees to help the Brotherhood once she finds her Dad. She helps Three Dog to restore GNR's signal and makes GNR her temporary refuge. Through this her relationship with Three Dog begins to change into a romance.

On the night before Ashley leaves for Vault 112 she and Three Dog share a passionate kiss, expressing their growing feelings for one another, though Ashley is confused about Andy, and Three Dog still seems a little reserved in his emotions.

Upon returning from Vault 112 with her Father and traveling to Rivet City to meet with Dr. Li, Ashley accompanies them to Project Purity. Her happy reunion with her Dad is short lived when he sacrifices himself in the control room. Ashley is devastated after her Father's death and channels her rage into fighting the Enclave.

Ashley heads back home to Megaton to grieve her loss. She and Andy have an emotional reunion, and Andy and Lucy rally to comfort her, as she is even more broken than she was when she first arrived in Megaton. One emotional night Ashley confesses her deeper feelings for Andy and how she is conflicted and restrained in her relationships, knowing that she is marching off to a certain death by taking on the Enclave. Despite Ashley's confession that she cares for Three Dog as well, Andy and Ashley share a fiery kiss and a heartfelt goodbye before Ashley heads off to Vault 87, and then back to GNR for the last time.

At GNR Three Dog stays by her side through the night before she is to leave in the morning with Sarah and the Pride. Three Dog and Ashley share some intimate moments and end up sleeping together after a vulnerable and lost Ashley confesses her love for him. Afterwards he admits he is also torn by his mixed feelings and tells Ashley that while he cares deeply for her and is attracted to her, he cannot commit to her like she wants. GNR and the Good Fight is his main priority, even at the cost of his own emotions, or other people's feelings. Ashley becomes angry and is hurt, and asks him to say that he loves her. Three Dog is initially reluctant and confesses that he can't. They have a heated exchange in which Ashley berates him for being scared to care about people. She angrily leaves a few hours later, though Three Dog is still struggling with his feelings for her. He reluctantly lets her go and watches her drive away in the sunrise as she sits in the back of the Brotherhood's army truck with the Pride.

Later on as they near the Citadel, Ashley hears Three Dog on the radio making an impassioned speech to her. He confesses she is the closest thing to love he has felt for another person, and needed to let her know so she could use that power to fight. He says that is all that he can give her, and beseeches others to let their loved ones know they care about them before it's too late, and to not make the same mistakes he did. He sadly explains how Ashley has made him see the error of his ways, but it was too late to overcome them even if Ashley was to stay. He dejectedly tells her this is just how it has to be. Ashley listens with tears in her eyes as Three Dog praises her commitment and importance in both the Good Fight and his own life. He expresses his love for Ashley over the radio and in a choked voice, after wishing her luck in her fight to save the world, says Good-bye.

Driven by the love of Andy and Three Dog, and in vengeance of her Father, Ashley bravely fights alongside Liberty Prime. Ashely aids the Pride in their fight against the Enclave and helps them to defeat the Enclave Soldiers, taking a bullet in return. Ashley wastes no time in shooting Colonel Autumn as payback for her Father's death. Seriously wounded at Project Purity, Ashley makes the noble decision to enter the radiation filled control room to stop the purifier from exploding. After an emotional good-bye from Sarah, Ashley turns off the purifier and is overcome by the radiation. As Sarah watches helplessly Ashley falls to the floor in convulsions, landing fittingly next to her Father's dead body.

Ashley wakes up 2 weeks later at the Citadel, surrounded by Andy, Lucy and Sarah who took turns caring for her while she was unconscious. After recovering, Ashley returns to Megaton under the strict care of Andy who temporarily moves in with her. After she fully recovers he confesses his love for her, and how her near death experience and Three Dog's speech made him see how much he really cared about her. Ashley finally reciprocates her love and they share a passionate night together.

Three Dog expresses his joy over her victory and her recovery, thanking her over the radio and dedicating a song to her. Ashley knows she must return to GNR to get closure on her romance with Three Dog. They have a cathartic conversation and both confess there are some lingering feelings. However, Ashley tearfully tells him she truly loves Andy, and wants to be with him. Three Dog accepts this, apologizing that he couldn't give her what she wanted, and what she deserved. They agree that their romance cannot go on, and decide to remain close friends and allies.

Ashley eventually marries Andy and lives happily with him and Dogmeat in Megaton, facing whatever struggles may come in the post-apocalyptic future together.

Thanks to Ashley, the Wasteland is safe... for now.

 **Here is the first part of Chapter 1:**

I burst out of the door leading to the Vault, gasping for breath and crouched low with my pistol clutched tightly in my hand. Cool night air whistled through the rocks, causing goosebumps to break out all over my arms. The air smelled much stronger out here, fresh and crisp despite the devastation that I was sure to find. I tried to keep my focus - my mind was swimming with the events that had just taken place. I glanced behind me in paranoia just to see if the Overseer had sent somebody else after me. Of course there was nobody there, just the slanted, wooden entrance to the now tightly locked vault, deep within the cave.

 _Nobody was crazy enough to come out here_ , I realized, my heart hammering in my chest, my breath hot and pent up in my lungs.

The silence out here was almost deafening compared to what I had just left behind in the vault - pops of gunfire, the Overseer's blaring recorded message, the alarm, Amata's tearful good-bye - it all rang in my ears. Despite all that had transpired, and the fact that I had just left the confines of the world I had grown up in, I felt strangely exhilarated. I finally lifted my head to the sky and couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped me. A dark blue sky dotted with hundreds of stars spanned all above me. I don't know how long I stayed there, now collapsed on the ground, my mouth hanging open in awe as I stared at the panorama of the sky, sucking in lungfuls of the cool, tainted air. All I could hear was the whispering of the brittle bushes in the gentle night breeze, and the occasional bang or echo of gunfire in the vast distance.

Though I was almost deathly scared to be out here in the open amongst every evil that stalked the Wastelands and was cowering by the shambles of an entrance to the secured vault that had once been my home, I was somewhat safe up here, nestled high up in a small clearing between the jagged rocks.

I took a shot of whiskey as I gathered my self together, and the sting as it went down my throat was warm and comforting.

As a means to distract myself from the fact my entire world had been flipped upside down and set on fire, I got up and explored my surroundings. A lookout sign was still barely standing, the pole was bent and stuck deep into the ground. This clearing had apparently at one time been a nice, scenic spot. I warily glanced over the edge of the mountain to take in the view, and gasped once again as I finally saw the sprawling, lonely grey landscape that was the Wastelands. No matter how extensively we had studied it in school, nothing could have prepared me for the forlorn scenery that met my eyes. Buildings that were barely left standing dotted the grey horizon like ravaged structures of defeat, crumbling and burnt. Some trees were scattered along the rocky mountainside; they were few and far between, brittle and still suffering from burn scars of the past. Tears filled my eyes at the sheer sadness of what the world up here truly was like, but I bit my lip and reminded myself what I was doing. There was no time to cry right now. I had a job to do.


End file.
